Bell's one-day career not over - Flower

Andy Flower has insisted Ian Bell's limited-overs international career is not over, despite the batsman having been omitted from the England squad to face Pakistan in four ODIs and three T20Is in the UAE.

Bell, a 29-year-old veteran of 108 ODIs, has been left out as England offer opportunities to younger men such as Jos Buttler, the Somerset batsman, and Yorkshire's Jonny Bairstow as England seek to improve their modest limited-overs form away from home of 12 wins in 38 matches since December 2005. Bell has passed 50 only once in his last 14 ODI innings and had looked uncomfortable against Saeed Ajmal's spin in the recently concluded Test series.

"Ian Bell is a very fine player, who has had a hard time in this Test series and hasn't had that many chances recently in one-day cricket for us," Flower said. "I spoke to him yesterday about the one-day situation and he was very mature in his acceptance of it.

"What I did say to him was that this doesn't mean that his one-day career is necessarily over. He's not too old to fight his way back into the side. He's a very fine international cricketer. It depends how this group of players play and whether any gaps open up in the future. If he can fight his way back in, then good on him."

It is not the first time that Bell has been dropped. After the debacle of Jamaica in February 2009, when England were bowled out for just 51, Bell was omitted from the Test side until July of that year and did not reappear in the ODI side until July 2010.

He may also have suffered for England's surfeit of players of a similar tempo. With Jonathan Trott having scored prolifically at No. 3 and Alastair Cook having been appointed captain, Bell had been out of position at No. 6. While Bell is as sweet a timer of the ball as anyone in the team, his style is not best suited to the somewhat more agricultural requirements of the last overs of an ODI innings, as a strike-rate of 73.31 suggests.

Flower also confirmed Kevin Pietersen will open the batting for England. Pietersen, who batted at No. 4 in recent times, has not made a score of 80 or more since November 2008 and has only passed 50 three times in 34 innings. One of those half-centuries came during a four-match spell during the World Cup when he opened the batting. In those four games he averaged 32.75 at a strike-rate of 96.32.

"He is going to be opening the batting for us in this series and that should be really exciting to watch," Flower said. "We started with him in that position in the World Cup and unfortunately he got injured and had to go home early. But he showed glimpses of what he could do.

"He's a very, very fine cricketer - a very dangerous cricketer - and someone we'd like to give the option of facing as many balls as possible in the limited-overs game. If he stays in long enough, he will win games for us in that position.

"It hasn't worked out well for him at No. 4 recently, but I'm really excited to see him embrace the challenge of opening."

In order to help England's batsmen prepare for the further trial by spin they anticipate in the limited-overs games, Monty Panesar will remain with the squad for another week. It is anticipated Pakistan will field four spinners in their ODI side, meaning England's batsmen may face as many as 40 overs of spin per innings.

Flower also reflected on the 3-0 whitewash Pakistan inflicted upon England in the Test series. It was the first series England had played since they assumed the No. 1 Test ranking. Flower admitted he was disappointed with the performance of the batsmen but expressed his confidence in their ability to resolve their problems against spin bowling.

"The batsmen are lower in confidence after the Test series against this type of bowling, so it will be a serious challenge for us. I expect better things from the batsmen, and I really expect to see us improve with our knowledge and method of how to combat their spin.

"Of course, there is a cut-off line where it would be stupid to continue along the same path if it's not being successful. In the main, I don't think we're there with this group of players.

"This is not a closed shop - everyone's aware of that - but this group of batsmen have done an outstanding job for England and have very good international records over the past few years."